Haryana Rajya Sabha polls: Congress’ win nothing short of a hard lesson

The ‘cross-voting’ by Congress MLAs in the recent Rajya Sabha election for Haryana has yet again exposed the fault lines of indiscipline and factionalism within the party, even as the Congress is celebrating its candidate going to the upper house of the Parliament, the win is nothing short of a hard lesson for the party.

Congress party on Wednesday (March 18, 2026) disclosed the names of four of its MLAs for allegedly indulging in cross-voting during the Haryana Rajya Sabha elections, adding that disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against them. Congress party’s in-charge for Haryana, B.K. Hariprasad, at a press conference in New Delhi, said Congress MLAs, including Shalley Chaudhary, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Israil and Renu Bala had cross-voted in the election.

“The party’s disciplinary committee has been informed and show cause notices will be issued to them,” he said, adding, “We had 37 votes, but five to six were declared invalid. Upon examination of the ballots, it was confirmed that four of our MLAs had indulged in cross-voting.” He added that the rest of names including those of invalid votes, shall be disclosed in coming day. The leader of the Opposition, Congress’s Bhupinder Singh Hooda, confirmed on Tuesday (March 17, 2026) that five Congress MLAs had cross-voted.

After the midnight political drama on March 16, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sanjay Bhatia and the Congress party’s Karamvir Boudh were elected to the Rajya Sabha. However, with Congress’s Boudh only managing to secure 28 votes and winning by just one vote, despite 37 MLAs in the Assembly, what looked like an easy win for Congress turned into a nail-biting finish.

Political analyst Kushal Pal, a professor of political science and principal with Indira Gandhi National College, Ladwa in Kurukshetra, said “The Congress had more than sufficient numbers to easily win the one seat, yet the victory was a very close finish. The indiscipline, possibly triggered by factionalism in the party’s state unit, has again come to the fore. However, one good thing was that the state leadership was able to manage the crisis and won the seat.”

“There’s a lesson for Congress. The party’s central leadership needs to strengthen its control over its state organistaions or else the implications in the future could be damaging,” he added.

Meanwhile, the BJP cornered the Congress over its allegations surrounding the Rajya Sabha polls, by mounting a sharp attack on the Congress. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said the Congress itself is guilty of undermining democratic principles, as he termed Congress’s claim of “murder of democracy” as politically motivated.

Speaking during the ongoing budget session of the State Assembly, Mr. Saini said the issue of Rajya Sabha election did not formally arise for discussion in the House. However, he noted that senior Congress member Raghubir Singh Kadian had questioned the necessity of fielding a third candidate.

The Chief Minister said the third candidate was not backed by them, but was an independent candidate and in a democracy, every individual has the right to contest elections. “The independent candidate had approached them for support and had also sought votes from the Congress. Ultimately, those who chose to back him did so in accordance with their conscience. There should be no objection to that. The attempts to cast aspersions on the process were unwarranted,” he said.